Author Topic: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2013  (Read 25707 times)

1SO

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2013
« Reply #20 on: November 01, 2013, 08:49:14 PM »
Very high on my Watchlist, but I haven't been able to track it down yet.

PeacefulAnarchy

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2013
« Reply #21 on: November 01, 2013, 09:51:59 PM »

1. House of Bamboo (1955) 7/10

A cinemascope colour noir set in Japan? If you say so Fox. It didn't feel very noirish at the start, but once it gets into the heart of the story most of the genre staples are there. I like Robert Ryan, and although he doesn't get a juicy enough role here what he does with it certainly makes for the film's brightest moments. Otherwise the acting is merely ok, and with dialogue to match and few night shots this is missing most of what I most love about the genre. Even so, the cinematography is very good even without shadow play, and the plot of a man infiltrating into a gang to avenge a friends death is well written. It's not very twisty, but it hits all the right beats and the climax, while a bit ridiculous, is certainly memorable. I enjoyed it for a fun crime story with good moments, but it's no stand out.

PeacefulAnarchy

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2013
« Reply #22 on: November 02, 2013, 12:42:08 AM »

2. The Street with No Name (1948) 7.5/10
I wonder if there's a list somewhere of these true crime FBI files noirs. I think my feeling on most of them is pretty similar. They're often good stories, but the pacing is very plodding and are often accompanied by tedious narration and some eyerolling "message." This one's no exception. Widmark is great as the villain but otherwise there's little here that stands out. I do wonder if Fuller took some inspiration from this for House of Bamboo, though. Despite the very different settings they've got similar plots and general turning points, and one scene in particular towards the end is nearly identical. Like that film I enjoyed it, but that's about it.

Jared

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2013
« Reply #23 on: November 02, 2013, 12:45:26 AM »
Nightmare

This one got a little bit met for me. The main character stumbles about trying to decipher a very vivid nightmare, picking up an occasional clue along the way. While watching, I had a distinct feeling that I had seen this movie before. Later figured out that the same director had made the same movie 9 years earlier, called Fear in the Night, which I had seen.

It's a fun enough little mystery, although obviously one that stuck with me all that well in it's previous iteration. This one should work a tiny bit better though, since I'm a big fan of Edward G. Robinson. He is probably best known for his gangster characters, but I think his real specialty is playing these guys trying to solve a complicated case. You can see the gears just turning in his head. Decent start to the month in my opinion.

1SO

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2013
« Reply #24 on: November 02, 2013, 01:34:31 AM »
I hope I get to The Street with No Name this month. I've already got a pretty big list, but I know some Noirs are hard to get a hold of.



A nice start to this Noir-vember.
Decent start to the month in my opinion.

Strange that we both started with the same film. Okay, Eddie G. Film-Noir Checklist. Have you seen…
Black Tuesday
A Bullet For Joey
The Glass Web
House of Strangers
Illegal
Key Largo
Tight Spot
Scarlet Street
The Woman in the Window

Those last two are Fritz Lang's best Noirs. They work great as a double feature with similar supporting cast ( Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea) and similar final moments that are tough to defend.

Jared

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2013
« Reply #25 on: November 02, 2013, 09:18:20 AM »
Haven't seen A Bullet for Joey, Tight Spot, or the Glass Web. Plan to sneak in the first of those if I can this month

Sandy

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2013
« Reply #26 on: November 02, 2013, 10:55:57 AM »
The American Friend




Weary. Not even the adrenaline that must be present for an assassination, is enough to stay awake. At that level of morose fatigue, it doesn't take much to be nudged to the tipping point. A little artful persuasion and patience should do it and the thinnest layer of gilding, to separate what appears to be and what really is.








« Last Edit: November 03, 2013, 12:39:54 AM by Sandy »

verbALs

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2013
« Reply #27 on: November 02, 2013, 11:33:53 AM »
Damp, crumbling Hamburg replacing sun baked, crumbling Mongibello. So the travelogue impressions of the American author clash with the Euro-jadedness of the director. Perhaps that manifests itself as a lassitude in the finished product.

Ripley himself has converted himself into a proper petit bourgeois European in this story.. Dennis Hopper could never be anything but an American, so how did his impersonation of a Paris based art dealer go down with you? In the other version Malkovich is a perfect effete older Ripley but the Ganz role is .....Dougray Scott!!!!

Ganz versus Malkovich! I suppose it's Ganz who appears worn out in this film. It reminds me of The Conformist in that Trantignant fears he carries a hereditary mental disorder. The diseased individual reflects the unhealthy state of affairs in the story.. Whether it be fascism or organised crime and clandestine deceptions. Oh yeah and both films have the worlds worst assassins.

You didn't mention Sam Fuller. Go back three spaces.
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

Jared

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2013
« Reply #28 on: November 02, 2013, 12:13:07 PM »
M (1951)

2nd film, 2nd remake of the month. This movie can hang its hat on a terrific story and a few shots lifted from the original, but overall it isn't even close to Fritz Lang's masterpiece. Peter Lorre's face in a few scenes still stands out so vividly although I probably have seen the 1931 version in 8 or 9 years. I doubt anything from this version will stand out to me tomorrow.

It's a decent enough movie but ultimately just felt like kind of a pointless one. No deviations or spots that are improved upon. Watch or rewatch the Lang version instead.

1SO

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Re: Noir-vember Group Marathon 2013
« Reply #29 on: November 02, 2013, 01:14:06 PM »


The Naked Edge
"Do murderers make love differently?"

In his final film, Gary Cooper plays a key witness at a murder trial. But is the convicted man innocent? And Did Gary Cooper commit the murder himself? Deborah Kerr plays the wife who wrestles with her suspicion. The strength of the film is casting Gary Cooper as the husband and then playing off of audiences wrestling with that casting. Is Gary Cooper really going to be the murderer? It's the same tantalizing idea Hitchcock explored 20 years earlier in Suspicion with Cary Grant, and it's every bit as effective here.

While this isn't as good as Hitchcock's film this works quite well in a more pulpy way thanks to a shell game script by Joseph Stefano (Psycho), stylish direction by Michael Anderson and a classy hysteria by Kerr, who also brought classy hysteria to The Innocents, released the same year. The Naked Edge is the cinematic version of a dime store page-turner and Mrs. 1SO and I both enjoyed it more than we expected to.
RATING: * * *